Author: Tracy Eldridge

This my witness for my Lord and Savior on the web. I pray that you find these posts useful in your search for Jesus. http://thelivingmessage.com

Broken relationships


In today’s world, there are many of these. You see them on television shows and on the news and in families everywhere. Many of these broken relationships are in our churches and in schools and in the books which children and young adults read. It seems that we are teaching the next generation that a broken relationship is…well, normal.

Even in the Bible, there are many broken relationships. It even begins in the Garden of Eden where Adam and his wife disobeyed God’s command to not eat of the tree in the midst of the garden. But, that isn’t the only time that God and His Creation are estranged. The people that He chose to be His people turned away from Him even after He liberated them from slavery after over four hundred years. Later, when they were in their promised land, they began worshiping other gods and marrying into the other “cultures” around them.

These broken relationships kept becoming more normal in the Bible all through the history of the Jewish people. They would mend their relationship with God, then they would forsake Him again and it became a pattern. Over and over again, all through the Old Testament God would use one king or a nation to punish Israel for a time and then He would rescue them.

Our world today is no different. We seek out relationships with people or a career for a time and then we break that relationship in some way and seek out another. Sometimes we will find one which we can stick with, either by accident or by God’s will and it is usually by the latter. Truly, life has a way of imitating God’s Word in some form, even if we don’t believe in God. But, for many of us who become Christians, God does have a way of working our life around until we have finally “came to his senses” like the prodigal son did.

No matter how broken your life may be or even how broken your relationship may be, God can help you fix it. IF, you will seek His help in fixing the mess you have made. Own your mistakes and realize that it was you who caused the broken and crumbling relationship in your life and between yourself and God. He doesn’t change His mind about how He feels about you because His love for us is eternal. It is usually us who have changed some part of the relationship or even allowed sin to get in the way, between us and our Savior.

Our sin which causes this breach may not be a very grievous sin in our eyes, but any sin is capable of placing a barrier between us and God. The barrier may be small at first, but if left alone it will grow. Especially if you don’t confess it and ask forgiveness for it. If you just ignore it because it was such a “little” sin, the next one will add to the separation and it will get worse. Don’t add to the problem, seek His wisdom and His forgiveness before the separation gets so large that it is hard for you to speak to Him.

Bible-brokenness

You must seek Him!


For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Matthew 7:8 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.7.8.KJV

A Prayer the world needs today


Minister Joe Wright was asked to open the new session of the Kansas Senate, everyone was expecting the usual generalities, but this is what they heard:

“Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says: “Woe to those who call evil good”, but that is exactly what we have done.
* We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.
* We have ridiculed the absolute truth of Your Word and called it Pluralism.
* We have worshipped other gods and called it multiculturalism.
* We have endorsed perversion and called it an alternative lifestyle.
* We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery.
* We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare.
* We have killed our unborn and called it a choice.
* We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable.
* We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem.
* We have abused power and called it politics.
* We have embezzled public funds and called it essential expenses.
* We have institutionalized bribery and called it sweets of office.
* We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition.
*We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression.
* We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment.
Search us, Oh GOD, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!”

In America and around the world, we NEED this prayer today and every day!

What would you do?


Each of us needs to take notice of something truly remarkable. Each one of us on this planet is completely and totally unique! There is not one other person on Earth exactly like you (unless you have an identical twin), and even for twins each of you is unique because even though you may look alike, your fingerprints are different and there are other things which are unique for each person.

Why did I ask this question and then dive into how unique each of us really is? Because asking a question makes you think about the answer and our uniqueness is something which sets all of us apart.

So, what would you do with your life as a Christian? We are commanded to go out into the world and tell others what He has done for us. What has He done for you and what would you do for Him?

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Ask…


Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
Matthew 7:7 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.7.7.KJV

Are you ready?


In the parable of the ten virgins, five were ready to meet the Bridegroom and five were not. Which group are you in?

Are you seeking His wisdom and taking Him with you on a daily basis or do you attend church occasionally and only read the Bible when you are there? We are expected to be faithfully working for His Kingdom daily in the faith and the hope of His return at any time. The “works” that we do are not where our salvation comes from but they are the fruit which we should be producing in our lives.

There are many studies which show that our country is not the Christian nation which was envisioned by the settlers who originally came here. We claim to be Christians, at least 70% or a few more do, but when the questions get down to the small degrees of service and reading the Bible, the percentage drops quite a bit. Although, earlier today I read an article which said that even though many are leaving some mainline churches they are going to nondenominational churches and serving God more fervently than ever.

Churches are losing people because of their liberal doctrines and by not following the Bible’s teachings faithfully. God is glorified when we are satisfied and faithful to Him in our praise! Being satisfied with God is the most honoring and happy with God Who has paid for your salvation through Jesus’ blood! Live your life in persuit of Him and His service into eternity because He has sought you out to be His child!

In the parable of the ten virgins, the five who made sure of their lamp’s never being without oil shows a persistence of their belief in the Bridegroom’s coming. They didn’t know when He would come but they made sure that they had enough faith (oil) to carry them until He did come for them. This is exactly what we are supposed to do with our faith today, be persistent in seeking Him in everything that we do until He does come for those who believe in Him.

As Jesus said: “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God and all of these things will be added unto you.” By serving Him and having faith in His Word, we show that we are His and He is ours through faith, amen. We are called to be His when we feel the Holy Spirit touch our hearts and when we answer that call by accepting Jesus as our Savior then we are made into a new creation through the blood of Jesus washing our sins clean. Just as Jesus healed the ten lepers when He told them to go and show themselves to the priest and as they went they were made clean. It was their belief that they would receive the healing from Jesus and His willingness to heal them which made the healing possible.

God is our Creator and He is willing for all to come to know Jesus as Savior but it is our stubbornness which gets in the way most of the time. We choose not to believe in Him because salvation couldn’t be that easy or we want to add something to it so that we “help” Him in our salvation and that’s not how it works.

Make sure that you are one which has his lamp full and that you have an extra amount of oil to keep your lamp lit until He comes.

 

The Lord will guide you


I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye.
Psalms 32:8 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/psa.32.8.KJV

Do not worry!


Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment?
Matthew 6:25 KJV
https://bible.com/bible/1/mat.6.25.KJV

What is sin?


The dictionary defines a sin like this: an immoral act considered to be a transgression against divine law.

TenCommadmentsGod’s divine law is given in the Ten Commandments: Exodus 20

1 “You shall have no other gods before me.
2 “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
3 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
4 “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
5 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
6 “You shall not murder.
7 “You shall not commit adultery.
8 “You shall not steal.
9 “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
10 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

In some way, each of us has broken at least one of these commandments on a daily basis. None of us are perfectly able to keep even these commandments every day, all day. As Paul wrote in his letter to the church, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God”.

We may not have a graven image of our job or our wife or any other thing in our home but if we place more importance in those than we do in worshiping God, we have created our own “god” from something or a person who can’t fulfill that role. Your position cannot fulfill your life and neither can your home or your car or any person in this world. You can find happiness in your relationship or in your job, but it is not an eternal happiness because your job is not permanent and your wife or husband is not a god.

Placing someone or something on a pedestal and elevating them or it to a position which cannot be true in the sense of being a “god” is foolish, but some people do exactly that. They may not think that they are or they may not recognize their behavior as worship toward a person or some other thing besides the True Creator, but God knows their heart. He knows exactly who it is that they revere and have placed in His position and on His throne but God doesn’t share His throne.

Make sure of your worship and your salvation before the time of grace runs out.

Forgiving others


In so many ways, forgiving others is difficult and sometimes impossible without the love of Jesus flowing through our hearts. Forgetting the offense of our friends or family is not nearly so easy as forgiving them. An offense from friends or family is usually a very deep offense anyway and forgetting it takes lots of prayers and wisdom gleaned from the Bible during the time that we spend trying to heal from it.

Of course, Satan doesn’t help either. He keeps bringing up the offense and bringing it up, and bringing it up until it is maddening! I struggled with this after my divorce years ago, but with LOTS of prayers and reading the Bible and more prayers and more reading of God’s Word I have finally forgiven my ex-wife, but there are still times where Satan will dredge a memory or two back up. So, the process is never really over at least in this life.

We are forgiven of our sins through the blood of Jesus and it was shed for every person on the Earth, but it is up to the Spirit drawing you to Jesus and convicting you that you need Him which will convince you to give your heart to Him and ask forgiveness. It truly is your decision to accept it, God doesn’t force salvation on you. Even when you know you need Him it is still your decision and if you decide not to accept Him then if you die without Him, you are responsible for where your eternity is spent.

Forgiving others is part of our walk with Jesus. The Bible says “if you come to the altar and remember a slight against your brother, leave your sacrifice and be reconciled first“; so forgiveness between brothers or sisters in Christ is more important than a sacrifice. Because with unforgiven slights in your heart, you can’t fully serve the Lord in gladness until it is taken care of. We are supposed to allow the Love of Jesus to flow through us toward others even when we feel slighted or hurt in some way. Even if it is something that may be a month or even a year in the past, get it out in the open and ask forgiveness for it even if one party has forgotten the offense, the hurt, and the pain can still be there.

Through the Spirit of Christ and some determination, we can forgive even the most heinous of offenses with time. But that takes a lot of prayer and meditation on the Scriptures and seeking the Lord’s will in your walk with Him. Forgiving is not easy and forgetting an offense can be even harder, mainly because Satan and his cohorts will bring these memories to the front again even when you have managed to forget them for a time.

God loves each of us much deeper and intimately than you can imagine but we won’t truly know the depth of His love for us until we are in Heaven with Him. That is why we must walk with Him on a daily basis during this life so that we can truly enjoy His Presence for eternity!